# Chapter 4. Installation instructions

These are the installation instructions for the 1.0 release of the KDE Desktop Environment. For later versions, please complement your reading with the READMEs and INSTALLs that come along with the package. Please read them carefully and try to help yourself out if anything goes wrong. If you need further assistance, consider joining the KDE mailing lists (see our web site instructions for joining the KDE mailing lists) or newsgroups.

# 4.1. To the would-be converts

So you have heard the rumours. Or you have seen the screenshots. And you are dying to get hold of KDE. But you know next to nothing about this whole "alternative OS" business. Don't worry! You only need to do some (well, maybe not some) reading, that's all!

KDE doesn't run on Windows 95/98/NT or OS/2 (yet). To run KDE, you need to have a Unix system. Please refer to On which platforms can I expect KDE to work? for more details.

Let's say you have decided to install Linux. You can either download it from the Internet, or buy a CD-ROM set that contains the distribution of your choice. You might find the following resources useful:

- Control-Escape: Alternative Software, Linux Help

- The Linux Home Page at Linux Online

- SearchLinux Home

- Linux Knowledge Base

- Usenet newsgroups like comp.os.linux.*

In order to run KDE on Linux, you need to set up X first. X is the de facto GUI on Unix systems. You might want to take a look at the following resources:

- The X Window System

- XFree86(TM): Home Page

- Usenet newsgroups like comp.os.linux.x and comp.windows.x.*.

Finally, you are ready to commence the KDE installation. Please start reading from the next section. To get KDE, please see Where do I get KDE?. Last but not least, if you encounter any problems while installing KDE, please do not hesitate to make use of the KDE mailing lists and newsgroups. But do bear this in mind: no question is too silly to ask, but some are too silly to answer, especially when they are already answered in this FAQ.

Good luck and have fun!